Drama Grand Prix: “Maou” takes 4 out of 5

Last week, Nikkan Sports announced the results of its summer survey for the Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix. A total of 24,757 votes were collected between September 25 and October 4. The big winner this time was the TBS series “Maou,” winning in all four categories that it was nominated for. The show received about 12,600 votes for Best Drama, handily beating “Code Blue” by close to 5,000 votes. At #3 was “33-pun Tantei,” far behind at only 1,300 votes, followed by “Atsuhime” and “Shibatora” with less than 800 votes apiece.

For Best Supporting Actor, Kei Tanaka edged out the competition, and the top 5 were all either from “Maou” or “Code Blue.” Ryoko Kobayashi gave “Maou” its fourth award as Best Supporting Actress, while the rest of the votes were split among the three female leads from “Code Blue” and Mikako Tabe.

The only category that “Maou” didn’t win was the Best Actress award, due to its lack of a starring female role. Aoi Miyazaki received about 8,200 votes for her role in “Atsuhime,” with young star Mirai Shida (“Seigi no Mikata”) trailing by 3,500 votes to land in second.